I often say that I don't like games from the NES era. All of the games from this time are either rushed out to cash in on the huge gaming rise, made by inexperienced devs with no knowledge of good game design, or made infamously difficult so that playtimes are increased. I still stand by this and in my opinion the only NES games that stand up to time are Super Mario Bros. 3 and Punch Out!! However, when we hit the 90s, and the SNES era, is when I think games actually start getting good. The SNES is home to so many classics that are still amazing to this day; games that took what devs were trying to do with the NES and fleshing them out into actually great expiriences. In my opinion, no game is a better example of this than A Link to the Past.
ALttP is a treasure of a game and an all time classic. It took what worked with the first Zelda and expanded it. Going from a dull slog of working through bullshit fights and simple block moving traps to full on dungeon crawling adventure through a genuinely beautiful world.
The exploration is actually fun here. I'm sure at the time, collecting Nintendo Power and sharing gossip on the playground was super dope, but now it's just shitty design. ALttP however is designed in a way that when you explore your are actually awarded with something. It's not just cryptic, broken English hints telling you that there MIGHT be a wall you can bomb. Call it skill issue but it's genuinely not. It's good game design.
The dungeons are also evolved to something that is amazing. It's no longer just traversing through rooms of enemies just to get keys and fight a boss. Here there are actual puzzles. Actual trials that require you to use your head and think your way through instead of brute forcing your way to a dull boss fight.
ALttP, arguably, is the most influential Zelda to the future of the franchise. A lot of the lore, characters and locations, and gameplay loop started here. Even though the dungeons are greatly expanded compared to Zelda 1 they can still be pretty simplistic, which is very sad because future Zelda games, including Link's Awakening which came out right after, have some amazing dungeon and puzzle designs. However when the dungeons do start to get good in ALttP is also when the enemy placement starts to become a problem. (Beamos in this game suck.)
Overall this game is genuinely amazing in almost every way. A joy from start to finish and required playing for any Zelda fan who is somehow missing out. From the beautiful SNES graphics to the grand and heroic soundtrack, this game is spectacular. The only game preventing it from being my favorite SNES game is Chrono Trigger.
Link's Awakening is better >:]
ALttP is a treasure of a game and an all time classic. It took what worked with the first Zelda and expanded it. Going from a dull slog of working through bullshit fights and simple block moving traps to full on dungeon crawling adventure through a genuinely beautiful world.
The exploration is actually fun here. I'm sure at the time, collecting Nintendo Power and sharing gossip on the playground was super dope, but now it's just shitty design. ALttP however is designed in a way that when you explore your are actually awarded with something. It's not just cryptic, broken English hints telling you that there MIGHT be a wall you can bomb. Call it skill issue but it's genuinely not. It's good game design.
The dungeons are also evolved to something that is amazing. It's no longer just traversing through rooms of enemies just to get keys and fight a boss. Here there are actual puzzles. Actual trials that require you to use your head and think your way through instead of brute forcing your way to a dull boss fight.
ALttP, arguably, is the most influential Zelda to the future of the franchise. A lot of the lore, characters and locations, and gameplay loop started here. Even though the dungeons are greatly expanded compared to Zelda 1 they can still be pretty simplistic, which is very sad because future Zelda games, including Link's Awakening which came out right after, have some amazing dungeon and puzzle designs. However when the dungeons do start to get good in ALttP is also when the enemy placement starts to become a problem. (Beamos in this game suck.)
Overall this game is genuinely amazing in almost every way. A joy from start to finish and required playing for any Zelda fan who is somehow missing out. From the beautiful SNES graphics to the grand and heroic soundtrack, this game is spectacular. The only game preventing it from being my favorite SNES game is Chrono Trigger.
Link's Awakening is better >:]